How to Watch the IPL in the USA

To watch IPL matches live in the USA without a VPN, Willow TV is your only option. It’s available through their website or as a channel on various cable and streaming services.

Here’s how to find Willow TV on popular providers:

TV Provider	Where to Watch	Package Requirements	Monthly Price
Willow TV	Streaming service	None	$9.99
Dish	Channel 9997	Available standalone	$14.99
Sling TV	Streaming service	Available standalone	$9.99
Spectrum	Varies by region	Spectrum TV Gold	$59.99
Xfinity	Channel 3101	Willow: Cricket	$14.99

Why We Recommend Using a VPN With JioCinema

We found that using JioCinema with an Indian VPN server provided a significantly more cost-effective and enjoyable experience than Willow.

JioCinema is 100% free and matches or exceeds Willow in every area, including an excellent user interface and Full HD live streams. It’s also easily accessible using ExpressVPN, which allows you to change your virtual location to India, and it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can compare JioCinema with Willow TV in the table below:

Service Attribute	JioCinema	Willow TV
IP Address Location Required	India	USA
Streaming Quality	Full HD (1080p)	Full HD (1080p)
User Experience	Good	Poor
Commentary Language	English	English
Monthly Price	100% Free	$9.99
Free Trial Available	Not Required	No

As well as requiring a paid subscription, Willow is one of the worst streaming sites we’ve ever used. The stream would often cut to ads when we were listening to post-over commentary because Willow adds its own commercial breaks on top of Sky’s feed.

It also lacks rewind or fast-forward capabilities, and the website is extremely difficult to navigate, promoting news stories and short videos over live IPL games.

By contrast, JioCinema contains ads, but it only cuts to them during an interval of play and when commentary and analysis has stopped. Its interface is also far easier to navigate than Willow’s, with live matches easily accessible from the home page or via the ‘TATA IPL’ tab.

Though we were able to get around some of Willow’s interface challenges by accessing it as a Sling TV add-on, the issues with the broadcast remained. Regardless of price, JioCinema provides a much better overall experience to Willow.

The way to access live IPL matches on JioCinema varies by device, and it’s often more complex than just connecting to a VPN and launching JioCinema. Below, you can find quick navigation links for instructions on various devices:

• Desktop
• Android
• iOS
• Fire TV & Android TV
• Apple TV, Roku & Smart TVs
• Chromecast

Desktop or Laptop (Windows & macOS)

Using a VPN to watch the IPL on your desktop or laptop is straightforward. Connect to an Indian VPN server that is compatible with JioCinema (like either of ExpressVPN’s), and open the site in your web browser. You can see more in-depth instructions below.

You can see us using ExpressVPN to live stream CSK vs RCB for free in the video below:

Android

Unlike on iOS, the JioCinema Android app can’t be installed from Google Play using a US Google account. We also don’t recommend installing an APK file from a third party website as these can contain malware.

Instead, we found a workaround where you can stream live matches from JioCinema using Android’s web browser.

iPhone & iPad

In contrast to Android, the JioCinema iOS app is available from the US App Store and is relatively simple to access. You won’t need to change your account region to download it.

Fire TV & Android TV

You will not be able to download the JioCinema app on Fire TV and Android TV without an Indian Amazon or Google account. However, we discovered that you can access JioCinema using a web browser on these streaming devices.

Apple TV, Roku, LG & Samsung Smart TVs

We noticed that when using AirPlay with JioCinema, the destination device does not require a VPN connection. This makes it far easier to set up on AirPlay-compatible devices that don’t natively support VPN applications, such as Roku, LG, and Samsung Smart TVs, but you will still need an iOS device.

Chromecast

JioCinema offers a more user-friendly experience compared to many geo-restricted streaming platforms when it comes to accessing it via Chromecast. Unlike other services, our research found that your Chromecast doesn’t need to be connected to a VPN server in India, simplifying the setup process.

So far in this guide, we’ve detailed the process for accessing live streams of the IPL on JioCinema with a VPN. We’ve focused on this service as it’s the only 100% free service that’s broadcasting the 2024 IPL season.

However, using a VPN, there are additional platforms available for streaming the IPL from the USA. Kayo Sports and Now (Sky Sports) are the only two services offering match broadcasts in English. To access Kayo Sports, you’ll need an Australian phone number, while Now requires a UK payment method.

You can compare these alternatives to JioCinema in the table below:

	JioCinema	Kayo Sports	Now (Sky Sports)
IP Address Location Required	India	Australia	UK
Streaming Quality	1080p (Full HD)	Up to 4K (UHD)	720p (HD)
Requires Local Phone Number	No	Can be bypassed using virtual phone number	No
Requires Local Payment Details	Not required	No	Yes
Monthly Price	100% Free	$16.25	$44.00
Free Trial	Not Required	7 days	No

We’ll detail the benefits and drawbacks of using these platforms for IPL streaming in the sections below.

Kayo Sports

Pros compared to JioCinema	Cons compared to JioCinema
Fewer ad breaks	Only available free for 7 days
Up to 4K resolution with the Basic plan	Expensive subscription plans
	Streaming on devices like Chromecast requires additional setup

Kayo Sports is an excellent sports-focused streaming service that’s broadcasted every IPL game in Australia since 2018. The website is easy to navigate and includes a dedicated IPL tab from its top navigation bar. As a premium service, IPL broadcasts on Kayo Sports contain significantly fewer ads than JioCinema and Willow.

The platform’s two subscription options are relatively expensive: the ‘One’ plan costs $16.25 and the ‘Basic’ plan costs $22.75. Both tiers have a 7-day free trial and can be purchased using a US payment method.

The main advantage to using Kayo Sports instead of JioCinema is the availability of 4K live streaming with the Basic subscription plan. This surpasses JioCinema, which is limited to 1080p (Full HD) resolution, providing an enhanced viewing experience.

We found that Kayo Sports requires your Chromecast to have an Australian IP address for streaming. Since most Chromecast devices don’t support VPN apps, you’ll have to use a VPN-enabled router or establish a VPN mobile hotspot, both of which are relatively complex solutions. In contrast, streaming to Chromecast via JioCinema does not require a VPN connection, making the setup process significantly easier.

Now (Sky Sports)

Pros compared to JioCinema	Cons compared to JioCinema
Compatible with far more VPN services	Very expensive
	Doesn’t offer a free trial
	Lower video resolution
	Requires local payment details number
	Lacks interactive video elements

Now is a popular UK-based online streaming platform from Sky Sports, which offers coverage of every IPL match in the 2024 season. Despite claims from other websites, Now is the exclusive broadcaster of the IPL in the UK, following the early termination of DAZN’s five-year contract, which ended after just one season at the end of the 2023 IPL season.

The service provides quick access to the standard Sky Sports Cricket TV channel, simply mirroring the traditional channel without integrating any interactive features. This contrasts with JioCinema, which enables you to choose from multiple camera angles and change commentary language.

Disappointingly, Now costs the equivalent of $44.00 per month and only broadcasts IPL matches in 720p resolution. Opting for Full HD quality requires an additional payment, totaling $51.50 monthly. Despite being completely free, JioCinema streams every match in Full HD.

While Now is accessible without a UK phone number, a UK-based payment method is still required. As a result, Now is no easier to access from the USA than JioCinema.

Both of these VPNs could consistently access JioCinema over a long testing period. They also have fast speeds connecting to India for streaming IPL matches in Full HD without buffering or lag.

Disappointingly, we couldn’t access the IPL on JioCinema with any completely free VPNs. Most popular free VPNs, like Windscribe Free and Proton VPN Free, lack Indian servers.

While PrivadoVPN Free, Psiphon, VPN Proxy Master, and SkyVPN offer Indian IP addresses, JioCinema consistently detected and blocked them.

Only 4 of 65 VPNs could unblock JioCinema: ExpressVPN, Surfshark, PrivateVPN, and Windscribe Pro. However, we experienced usability issues with the latter two, such as blurry video streams and persistent black screens.

In contrast, we didn’t encounter any such issues with ExpressVPN and Surfshark. Additionally, these services offer at least a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing for a risk-free trial period.

You can compare the two best VPNs for the streaming geo-blocked IPL matches in the table below:

	ExpressVPN	Surfshark
Works with JioCinema	Yes	Yes
US-Asia Download Speed	83Mbps (17% speed loss)	84Mbps (16% speed loss)
Indian Server Locations	New Delhi (via UK) and Chennai (via Singapore)	Delhi, Mumbai
Indian Servers	Undisclosed	50
Smart DNS	Doesn’t work with JioCinema	Doesn’t work with JioCinema
Cheapest Price	$6.67	$2.29
Type of Free Access	Mobile 7-day free trial & 30-day money-back guarantee	Mobile 7-day free trial & 30-day money-back guarantee

1. ExpressVPN: Best Overall VPN for Streaming the IPL

Pros	Cons
Works with JioCinema on every Indian VPN server	No 100% free option
Multiple Indian servers	Expensive pricing plans
Fast speeds on Indian servers for seamless streaming	Smart DNS service doesn’t work with JioCinema
Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 7-day mobile free trial
User-friendly apps for all popular devices

ExpressVPN is the best VPN for watching the IPL from the USA. It always worked to bypass geo-blocks on JioCinema, has multiple Indian servers, and maintains fast speeds across its server network to access live streams in the highest resolution.

Accessing IPL live streams

Over our entire testing period, ExpressVPN never failed to unblock JioCinema. We could access it regardless of the server we were connected to, unlike Surfshark and PrivateVPN, where we had to connect to a specific server location.

ExpressVPN also reliably unblocked other websites that are broadcasting the IPL, like Kayo Sports on an Australian server and Now while connected to a UK server.

Indian Server Network

ExpressVPN provides Indian IP addresses from New Delhi (via UK) and Chennai (via Singapore). The servers aren’t physically located in India, sidestepping the need to collect user data in compliance with local laws. We’re glad that ExpressVPN has provided this workaround rather than exiting the country entirely, as TunnelBear has done.

Download Speeds

According to our in-house tests, ExpressVPN is one of the fastest VPNs when connecting to servers around the world. We recorded an average download speed loss of just 15% to 85Mbps when connecting to far-away servers, which is more than fast enough for streaming JioCinema in 1080p.

Plus, with a virtual Indian server conveniently located in the UK, speeds were much faster connecting from the US due to the reduced distance.

Interface & Device Compatibility

ExpressVPN’s easy-to-use apps are available for every popular device, including Windows, iOS, and Fire TV. Unlike every other VPN, ExpressVPN also has a dedicated app for routers so you can use it across every device.

Pricing & Free Access

ExpressVPN’s paid subscription plans are expensive, costing $12.95 when paid monthly and $6.67 per month on a 15-month plan. However, the VPN service offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can use it for a month and get your money back in full.

2. Surfshark: Best Cheap VPN for Streaming the IPL

Pros	Cons
More Indian servers than any other VPN	Doesn’t unblock JioCinema on every Indian server
Consistently unblocks JioCinema	No completely free tier
Cheap subscription plans and generous money-back guarantee	Can’t get an Indian IP address using Smart DNS
7-day free trial on mobile devices
Works with Kayo & Now

Surfshark is an excellent alternative to ExpressVPN for accessing JioCinema on a budget. Though it’s slower and compatible with fewer devices than ExpressVPN, Surfshark is $4 cheaper per month and still works to reliably access JioCinema.

Accessing IPL Live Streams

During our use, Surfshark could only unblock JioCinema on its Delhi server. While connected to this location, we were always able to bypass JioCinema’s geo-blocks, though the video would sometimes take over 10 seconds to load.

More positively, once loaded, the video would display in the highest resolution without any pixelation. In contrast, with Windscribe Pro, the match footage was so blurred it made the content practically unviewable.

Indian Server Network

Surfshark has 50 VPN servers in India, which is more than any other VPN. However, it still only allows you to switch between two virtual server locations — Delhi and Mumbai. This is the same amount of locations as ExpressVPN and PrivateVPN, but 1 more than Windscribe.

Download Speeds

Unlike ExpressVPN, Surfshark randomly rotates the locations of its Indian servers between the UK, Netherlands, and Singapore. As a result, its speed performance can vary greatly depending on where the server is located at any given time.

Generally, though, Surfshark is sufficiently fast for streaming the IPL in the maximum resolution available. We recorded an average download speed loss of 17% when connecting to international server locations, which always meant matches were high quality.

Interface & Device Compatibility

Surfshark’s apps are consistent across platforms and are simple to use. It provides apps for most popular devices, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Apple TV, but unlike ExpressVPN, it doesn’t have a dedicated router app. Its Smart DNS feature doesn’t allow you to geo-spoof your location to India, either, so it’s not well-suited for many streaming devices.

Pricing & Free Access

Surfshark offers a 7-day free trial on mobile devices and a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans, which you can use twice. Together, these mean you can use Surfshark for up to 67 days at no cost. Windscribe’s money-back guarantee period is only 3 days, and ExpressVPN and PrivateVPN only allow you to take advantage of it once.

To find the very best VPNs for streaming the IPL from anywhere, we identified VPNs that matched the following criteria:

• Reliably unblocks JioCinema: We made sure each VPN successfully bypassed the geo-restrictions on JioCinema, allowing us to stream IPL matches from anywhere.
• Multiple Indian VPN server locations: Many popular VPNs don’t provide any Indian IP addresses, but we ensured to only recommend VPNs that offer multiple Indian servers, allowing you to get a new IP address if the VPN suddenly stops working with JioCinema.
• Fast international download speeds: Streaming in a high resolution without buffering requires a fast and stable connection, so we collected download speed results from multiple locations to ensure the VPN provided sufficient speeds.
• User-friendly apps for many devices: An intuitive interface makes it easy to get an Indian IP address, even if you’re a beginner. It’s also important for a VPN to be compatible with all of your devices, including Fire TV and Android TV, and not just desktop and mobile.
• Free-to-use: Though completely free VPNs are preferred, we tried workarounds to see how long we could use a premium VPN for free, either through a mobile free trial or via a money-back-guarantee.
• Private logging policy & strong security features: Some VPNs, especially free ones, don’t properly encrypt your traffic or anonymize your activity. Even if you’re only using it for IPL streaming, we only recommend using a VPN that offers AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption and using an open-sourced protocol, like WireGuard or Lightway.

During our first-hand testing of 65 VPNs with the IPL on JioCinema, we found that many usually effective VPNs couldn’t bypass the streaming service’s geo-blocks.

Here’s a list of some popular VPNs and the specific reasons they didn’t meet our criteria for IPL streaming:

VPN Service	Reason for Rejection
PIA	Failed to unblock JioCinema on all Indian servers
CyberGhost	Failed to unblock JioCinema on all Indian servers
NordVPN	Only 1 India Server location
PrivadoVPN Free	Failed to unblock JioCinema on all Indian servers
PrivateVPN	Persistent black screen during IPL streaming
Proton VPN Free	No Indian servers
Windscribe Pro	IPL stream quality was excessively blurry
Windscribe Free	No Indian servers
Atlas VPN Free	No Indian servers
TunnelBear Free	No Indian servers

JioCinema enforces strict VPN blocks to comply with its broadcasting agreement with the IPL.

Unlike most streaming sites, JioCinema will allow you to access the home page and menus on its website even if it detects a VPN connection. It will only display an error message when you try to access a video, though you will be blocked outright when using its app.

Here’s how to bypass the two most common JioCinema error messages:

“Something went wrong!”

JioCinema will display this error when it detects you are using a VPN and trying to access content on its website. You will see it immediately after clicking the video from the home screen or a sub-menu.

To bypass this error code, you will have to get an IP address that JioCinema has not banned. Make sure you are using either ExpressVPN or Surfshark. If you’re already using Surfshark, you’ll have to connect to its Delhi servers as all others are blocked. No such requirement is needed for ExpressVPN.

“Service Unavailable”

You’ll see this error message when JioCinema detects you are using a VPN and you are trying to access its mobile app. Unlike on its website, you won’t even be able to view the home screen.

To get around this, you’ll have to use a VPN that can bypass JioCinema’s geo-blocks. Subscribe to and use either ExpressVPN or Surfshark, which are two we’ve verified work with the streaming service and provide easy-to-use apps for mobile.